La. police investigate squad car firebombing

The Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, La.- Police are looking for whoever firebombed an off-duty police officer's "take-home" car as it sat outside his house.

Nobody was hurt, but damages to the car's interior, radio and computer equipment are esimated at $30,000. A glass bottle filled with flammable liquid apparently was thrown through the car's back window about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

"The device used to ignite the car was like a Molotov cocktail," Sgt. Ronald Besson, a police spokesman, said during a news conference Saturday.

Police did not return a call Sunday to ask whether any arrests had been made.

The officer got home about 1 a.m. When his dogs began barking and he heard breaking glass a half-hour later, he looked out to see his car on fire, according to a police report.

It said Alexandria firefighters found a broken bottle in the driver's side of the car. The case was turned over to arson investigators.

Besson said police did not know whether the attack was against the officer himself or police in general.

He could recall only one similar incident, in 1997 or 1998. In that case, a device left in front of the car failed to go off, he said.